On the Boundary (1903)
By Barcroft Boake ("The Dawn.")
I love the ancient boundary fence-That mouldering chock-and-log ;
When I go ride the boundary
I let the old horse jog.
And take his pleasure in and out
Where sandalwood grows dense,
And tender pines clasp hands across
The log that tops the fence. "Tis pleasant on the boundary fence.
Those sultry summer days ;
A mile away, outside the scrub,
The plain is all ablaze.
The sheep are panting on the camps-
The heat is so intense ;
But there the shade is cool and sweet
Along the boundary fence. I love to loaf along the fence :
So does my collie dog ;
He often finds a spotted cat
Hid in a hollow log.
He's very near as old as I
And ought to have more sense
I've hammered him so many times
Along the boundary fence. My mother says that boundary fence
Must surely be bewitched ;
The old man says that through that fence
The neighbours are enriched ;
lt's always down, and through the gaps
Our stock all got them hence-
It takes me half my time to watch
The doings of that fence. But should you seek the reason
You won't travel very far :
'Tis hid a mile away among
The murmuring belar :
The Jones's block joins on to ours,
And so, in consequence,
lt's part of Polly's work to ride
Their side the boundary fence. Notes From the NSW Newspaper The Clarence and Richmond Examiner 24 Jan 1903 p. 6.